Rare British Lepidoptera captured by Le Plastrier of Dover.
May 30, 2018 11:27:29 GMT
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Rare British Lepidoptera captured by Leplastrier of Dover.
While John Curtis (1791-1862) the distinguished entomologist was collecting beneath the cliffs at Dover in Kent in July 1831, he captured among plants of Wild Cabbage (Brassica oleracea) specimens of a moth that was new to science. In British Entomology, vol 6 (1832) Curtis described the moth as Carpocapsia Leplastriana and writes " I have named it after Mr. Le Plastrier who has made many fine captures of insects near that town." S. Leplastriana is a rare and local species that flies in the sunshine around its foodplant, B. oleracea which is confined to sea cliffs in southern England. In British Entomology, vol 4, Curtis states " we recommend entomologists who visits Dover to call upon Mr Le Plastrier of Snargate Street, who disposes on very reasonable terms of British Insects principally collected by his son in the neighbourhood."
Selania Leplastriana by John Curtis (1823-1840) British Entomology, vol 6, plate 352, 1832.
Selania Leplastriana. Folkstone, Kent, June 1922. Ex J.W. Metcalfe coll. Bristol Museum coll.
Robert Leplastrier (1776-1846) was a watchmaker and a purveyor of fine insects. He lived at 164 Snargate Street in the old port of Dover and his son Robert L. Leplastrier junior was also a collector. Leplastrier senior had remarkable luck in the field, capturing some remarkable aberrations of butterflies and some extremely rare migrants. Many of the special insects captured by Robert Le Plastrier, later became in the possession of Leplastrier junior who sold his collection to James Charles Dale in 1835 for £40, and those specimens can be still be seen in the Dale collection housed in the Oxford Museum of Natural History OUMNH.
The novelist Robert Smith Surtees in Jorrocks' Jaunts and Jollities (1838) wrote "As the coach approached Charlton gate, the guard flourished his bugle and again struck up ‘Rule Britannia,’ which lasted the whole breadth of the market-place and length of Snargate Street, drawing from Mr. Muddle’s shop the few loiterers who yet remained, and causing Mr Le Plastrier, the patriotic moth impaler, to suspend the examination of the bowels of a watch, as they rattled past his window." Surtees comic novels were a great success with the public and his witty reference to Le Plastrier does give us a good idea of how entomologists were viewed by others in this period as rather odd and eccentric.
The Reverend William Thomas Bree (1786-1863) an authority on almost all aspects of natural history, went to Dover for a vacation in August 1832 ; he mentions that Dover was a well known and fashionable watering place, a 19th century name for coastal towns frequented by sightseers and holiday makers. In his article published in the Magazine of Natural History (1832) he reveals that he followed Curtis' advice and paid his respects to Le Plastrier, writing " Mr Le Plastrier collects insects for sale, and I believe, well known to many eminent entomologists. All collectors who visit Dover I would strongly recommend to apply to Mr Le Plastrier, whom, I venture to state, they will find ready, in the most obliging manner, to communicate any information he may possess respecting localities, habitats and periods of insects to be met with in the neighbourhood. Mr Curtis has named the Dover Tortrix Moth, Carpocapsia Leplastriana, after this assiduous collector." Bree's article provides a list of Lepidoptera of the Dover area and he discusses several rarities in Le Plastrier's cabinet.
Dark Green Fritillary, Argynnis aglaja ab. albomaculata Rebel 1910.
W.T. Bree (1832) on observing the extreme aberration of Argynnis aglaja in the cabinet of Leplastrier wrote " A singular variety, pale buff-coloured, and with the black spots and markings faint. It was taken, as I am informed, in a remarkably wet season. The specimen reminds one almost of some plant, which, having grown in the dark, has in consequence, produced its flowers near colourless." James John walker (1907) who viewed the specimen in the Dale collection , observed " Perhaps the most singular variety in the entire collection, indeed, of any butterfly that I have ever seen, is a female of full size and well-developed, but with the body much bloated, and presenting generally a diseased appearance. On the upper-side the whole of the black markings and suffusion are replaced by a very peculiar tint, difficult to describe exactly but perhaps best expressed by the term " pale leaden-fuscous : the fulvous ground colour being slightly paler than in the ordinary form, and the distribution of the two colours normal. On the underside, the forewings are nearly as above, and the hindwings pale uniform leaden brown, with no trace whatever of green ; the usual silver spots being present and normal but rather dull. There is not a trace of black pigment in any part of the insect, which is a good condition, but a little damaged at the anal angle of both hind wings. It is labelled Dover, Leplaistrier (J.C.D.) and is thus referred to by the Rev W.T. Bree in Mag. Nat. History (1832)." A specimen of A. aglaja ab. albomaculata, a male in very fine condition was taken at Folkestone in Kent by C.P. Pickett in July 1907 and is in the British Museum of Natural History.
A aglaja ab. albomaculata. R. Leplaistrier, Dover, Kent. Dale coll, OUMNH.
Melanargia galathea ab nov?
A remarkable aberration of Melanargia galathea was caught by Leplaistrier at Dover and is probably an ab. nov, as the markings do not conform to any of the described aberrations of this species. W.T. Bree (1832) figured the specimen in the Magazine of Natural History and wrote " a very singular and strongly marked variety, taken near Dover and now in the cabinet of Mr Le Plastrier of Ramsgate, who kindly lent the specimen for the purpose of being figured". Bree sent his woodcut of Leplastrier's M. galathea aberration to J. O. Westwood and it was figured in colour in his British Butterflies and their Transformations (1841) by H. N. Humphreys. Walker (1907) when describing the specimen in the Dale collection called it " An exceedingly beautiful and striking variety of the male in fine condition".
Melanargia galathea ab nov. Leplaistrier, Dover. Dale coll OUMNH.
Melanargia galathea ab nov. Leplaistrier Dover. Woodcut by W. T. Bree 1832. List of Papilionidae occurring in the vicinity of Dover. Magazine of Natural History, vol 5.
Melanargia galathea ab nov. Leplaistrier Dover. H.N. Humphreys 1841. British butterflies and their transformations, plate 17, figs 5 & 6.
Rare Migrants.
The Bath White. Pontia daplidice.
The first recorded capture of a specimen of Pontia daplidice to be taken at Dover was by James Francis Stephens in the meadow behind Dover Castle on August 14, 1818. Bree (1832) saw a male in fine condition in the cabinet of Leplaistrier junior who took the specimen in 1826 near the Dover castle. N.B. Engleheart took two specimens on August 20, 1835 in a field adjoining the meadow at Dover and mentioned Leplaistrier Junior took one previously on August 18,1835 in the meadow at Dover Castle. This specimen is in the Dale collection.
Pontia daplidice. Dover, Leplaistrier Junior, August 1835. Dale coll, OUMNH.
The Reverend W. T. Bree returned to Dover in 1842 and wrote in the Zoologist, February 1843 "Mr Le Plastrier of Dover captured last summer, in that vicinity, two pairs of the rare Pieris (Pontia or Mancipium or whatever its right name is) daplidice, or Bath White. One of these fortunately laid some eggs after it was captured; and from these Mr Le Plastrier reared the caterpillars, which he fed with the Wild Mignonette (Reseda lutea), and at the present time he has four of them in the chrysalis state". In May 1843 of the same Journal Bree informed the readers that all the P. daplidice had successfully emerged in Le Plastrier breeding cages, three females and one male. Bree obtained a pair of P. daplidice from those bred by Leplastrier in 1843 and these are still in his collection, which is privately owned.
Queen of Spain Fritillary, Issoria lathonia.
In the Dale collection there is one specimen of Issoria lathonia, labelled "Dover 1826" and another " Dover Leplastrier" with no date.
Issoria lathonia. Leplastrier Dover. Dale coll, OUMNH.
The first British specimen of Oleander Hawk-moth, Daphnis nerii.
James John Walker, (1851- 1939) a marine engineer voyaged around most of the world with the Royal Navy, collecting insects when on land. He retired to Oxford, and became an editor of the Entomologist's Monthly Magazine. Walker was a Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society (President 1919-20) and a Fellow of the Linnean Society. He became a regular visitor to the Entomology Department at the Oxford Museum of Natural History, and while he worked at his desk in the old British room, arranging the Coleoptera collection or at some other task he used to hum and sing sea shanties and home made rhymes. The Dale Collection had been bequeathed to Oxford by Charles William Dale in 1904 and Walker was the first entomologist to examine the Lepidoptera in the collection in any detail and in the Entomologist's Monthly Magazine, 1907, 1909 & 1910, he published a series of articles on the many special and historic Lepidopotera specimens. Walker (1907) recorded the history of the first British specimen of Daphnis nerii captured at Dover that came into the possession of Leplastrier.
"The most interesting is a male, a little faded in colour but otherwise in good condition with the exception of a small piece out of the apex of each forewing, and the top of its head rubbed bare. It is labelled taken at Dover by Mr Le Plastrier (CWD) with a printed label at its side, Dover Mr Le Plaistrier Sept 1828. The latter date is almost certainly erroneous as regards the year, as the first record of the capture of the imago of C. nerii in our islands appears in the Entomological Magazine for 1834 Vol 1, page 525 as follows, Discovery of Sphinx Nerii in England "Sir, another addition has been made to our visiting Sphingidae by the capture of the splendid Deilephila (may I call it) nerii at Dover about ten days since. From the state of the specimen, which I have examined, it must have been very recently disclosed the tips of its wings and the top of its head alone being slightly injured by its captor, a lady residing in the above town. (J.F. Stevens Sept 16th 1833). The specimen now under consideration is slightly damaged as precisely the same manner as above described. It seems reasonable to suppose that it was from this example that the beautiful figure in Curtis British Entomology plate 626 was drawn. Curtis at the time this plate was published (January 1837) apparently knew of only two British taken C. Nerii, one of which was in the cabinet of his fellow worker J.C. Dale and was presumably lent to him for the purpose of being figured. The figure although more fully and richly coloured than the moth is now after a lapse of nearly three quarters of a century, agrees with it in a remarkable and convincing manner in all the minute details of its markings and though Curtis states "The fine specimen of the moth which is a female Mr Le Plastrier informed me was taken by a poor man the latter end of September 1834 near the pier at Dover and was bought to him alive", the antennae in the figure which are faithfully represented are obviously a male. It therefore appears to me that these somewhat discrepant records refer to the capture at Dover of a single specimen of C. nerii which came into the hands of the well known collector Mr Le Plaistrier and from him passed to J.C. Dale and that this, the first example of the beautiful moth known to have been taken in Britain, has thus been handed down to our time". Charles William Dale was not nowhere near as a meticulous worker as his father, and he often assigned a erroneous date to a specimen.
Daphnis nerii. Dover, Ex Le Plastrier coll, Dale coll, OUMNH.
Daphnis nerii. John Curtis (1823-1840) British Entomology, vol 56, plate 626, 1837.
* The specimen images were taken by me and remain the copyright of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and the Bristol Museum.
References.
Bree W.T. (1832) List of Papilionidae occurring in the vicinity of Dover. Magazine of Natural History. V5, pp.330-336.
Bree W.T. (1843) Note on the occurrence of certain butterflies near Dover. Zoologist, vol 1, p.113.
Bree W.T. (1843) Note on Mancipium Daplidice. Zoologist, vol 1 p.201.
Brigg M. M. (2015) The Butterfly Collection of the Bree Family. *Available online here.
www.dispar.org/reference.php?id=103
Brown S.C.S. (1980) Dale Archives : Collections mentioned by Dale. Unpublished Manuscript.
Chalmers-Hunt, J. M. (1961). Butterflies and moths of Kent, vo1 1.
Curtis J. (1823-1840) British Entomology, vol 4 & 5.
Engleheart. N.B. (1835) Mancipium Daplidice. Entomologist's Magazine, vol 3, p. 409.
Surtees R.S. (1838) Jorrocks' Jaunts and Jollities.
Walker. J.J. (1907) Some notes on the Lepidoptera of the Dale collection. The Entomologist's Monthly Magazine, vol 43, p.96. 101. 156-157.
Westwood J.O. Humphreys H.N. (1841). British Butterflies and their Transformations
While John Curtis (1791-1862) the distinguished entomologist was collecting beneath the cliffs at Dover in Kent in July 1831, he captured among plants of Wild Cabbage (Brassica oleracea) specimens of a moth that was new to science. In British Entomology, vol 6 (1832) Curtis described the moth as Carpocapsia Leplastriana and writes " I have named it after Mr. Le Plastrier who has made many fine captures of insects near that town." S. Leplastriana is a rare and local species that flies in the sunshine around its foodplant, B. oleracea which is confined to sea cliffs in southern England. In British Entomology, vol 4, Curtis states " we recommend entomologists who visits Dover to call upon Mr Le Plastrier of Snargate Street, who disposes on very reasonable terms of British Insects principally collected by his son in the neighbourhood."
Selania Leplastriana by John Curtis (1823-1840) British Entomology, vol 6, plate 352, 1832.
Selania Leplastriana. Folkstone, Kent, June 1922. Ex J.W. Metcalfe coll. Bristol Museum coll.
Robert Leplastrier (1776-1846) was a watchmaker and a purveyor of fine insects. He lived at 164 Snargate Street in the old port of Dover and his son Robert L. Leplastrier junior was also a collector. Leplastrier senior had remarkable luck in the field, capturing some remarkable aberrations of butterflies and some extremely rare migrants. Many of the special insects captured by Robert Le Plastrier, later became in the possession of Leplastrier junior who sold his collection to James Charles Dale in 1835 for £40, and those specimens can be still be seen in the Dale collection housed in the Oxford Museum of Natural History OUMNH.
The novelist Robert Smith Surtees in Jorrocks' Jaunts and Jollities (1838) wrote "As the coach approached Charlton gate, the guard flourished his bugle and again struck up ‘Rule Britannia,’ which lasted the whole breadth of the market-place and length of Snargate Street, drawing from Mr. Muddle’s shop the few loiterers who yet remained, and causing Mr Le Plastrier, the patriotic moth impaler, to suspend the examination of the bowels of a watch, as they rattled past his window." Surtees comic novels were a great success with the public and his witty reference to Le Plastrier does give us a good idea of how entomologists were viewed by others in this period as rather odd and eccentric.
The Reverend William Thomas Bree (1786-1863) an authority on almost all aspects of natural history, went to Dover for a vacation in August 1832 ; he mentions that Dover was a well known and fashionable watering place, a 19th century name for coastal towns frequented by sightseers and holiday makers. In his article published in the Magazine of Natural History (1832) he reveals that he followed Curtis' advice and paid his respects to Le Plastrier, writing " Mr Le Plastrier collects insects for sale, and I believe, well known to many eminent entomologists. All collectors who visit Dover I would strongly recommend to apply to Mr Le Plastrier, whom, I venture to state, they will find ready, in the most obliging manner, to communicate any information he may possess respecting localities, habitats and periods of insects to be met with in the neighbourhood. Mr Curtis has named the Dover Tortrix Moth, Carpocapsia Leplastriana, after this assiduous collector." Bree's article provides a list of Lepidoptera of the Dover area and he discusses several rarities in Le Plastrier's cabinet.
Dark Green Fritillary, Argynnis aglaja ab. albomaculata Rebel 1910.
W.T. Bree (1832) on observing the extreme aberration of Argynnis aglaja in the cabinet of Leplastrier wrote " A singular variety, pale buff-coloured, and with the black spots and markings faint. It was taken, as I am informed, in a remarkably wet season. The specimen reminds one almost of some plant, which, having grown in the dark, has in consequence, produced its flowers near colourless." James John walker (1907) who viewed the specimen in the Dale collection , observed " Perhaps the most singular variety in the entire collection, indeed, of any butterfly that I have ever seen, is a female of full size and well-developed, but with the body much bloated, and presenting generally a diseased appearance. On the upper-side the whole of the black markings and suffusion are replaced by a very peculiar tint, difficult to describe exactly but perhaps best expressed by the term " pale leaden-fuscous : the fulvous ground colour being slightly paler than in the ordinary form, and the distribution of the two colours normal. On the underside, the forewings are nearly as above, and the hindwings pale uniform leaden brown, with no trace whatever of green ; the usual silver spots being present and normal but rather dull. There is not a trace of black pigment in any part of the insect, which is a good condition, but a little damaged at the anal angle of both hind wings. It is labelled Dover, Leplaistrier (J.C.D.) and is thus referred to by the Rev W.T. Bree in Mag. Nat. History (1832)." A specimen of A. aglaja ab. albomaculata, a male in very fine condition was taken at Folkestone in Kent by C.P. Pickett in July 1907 and is in the British Museum of Natural History.
A aglaja ab. albomaculata. R. Leplaistrier, Dover, Kent. Dale coll, OUMNH.
Melanargia galathea ab nov?
A remarkable aberration of Melanargia galathea was caught by Leplaistrier at Dover and is probably an ab. nov, as the markings do not conform to any of the described aberrations of this species. W.T. Bree (1832) figured the specimen in the Magazine of Natural History and wrote " a very singular and strongly marked variety, taken near Dover and now in the cabinet of Mr Le Plastrier of Ramsgate, who kindly lent the specimen for the purpose of being figured". Bree sent his woodcut of Leplastrier's M. galathea aberration to J. O. Westwood and it was figured in colour in his British Butterflies and their Transformations (1841) by H. N. Humphreys. Walker (1907) when describing the specimen in the Dale collection called it " An exceedingly beautiful and striking variety of the male in fine condition".
Melanargia galathea ab nov. Leplaistrier, Dover. Dale coll OUMNH.
Melanargia galathea ab nov. Leplaistrier Dover. Woodcut by W. T. Bree 1832. List of Papilionidae occurring in the vicinity of Dover. Magazine of Natural History, vol 5.
Melanargia galathea ab nov. Leplaistrier Dover. H.N. Humphreys 1841. British butterflies and their transformations, plate 17, figs 5 & 6.
Rare Migrants.
The Bath White. Pontia daplidice.
The first recorded capture of a specimen of Pontia daplidice to be taken at Dover was by James Francis Stephens in the meadow behind Dover Castle on August 14, 1818. Bree (1832) saw a male in fine condition in the cabinet of Leplaistrier junior who took the specimen in 1826 near the Dover castle. N.B. Engleheart took two specimens on August 20, 1835 in a field adjoining the meadow at Dover and mentioned Leplaistrier Junior took one previously on August 18,1835 in the meadow at Dover Castle. This specimen is in the Dale collection.
Pontia daplidice. Dover, Leplaistrier Junior, August 1835. Dale coll, OUMNH.
The Reverend W. T. Bree returned to Dover in 1842 and wrote in the Zoologist, February 1843 "Mr Le Plastrier of Dover captured last summer, in that vicinity, two pairs of the rare Pieris (Pontia or Mancipium or whatever its right name is) daplidice, or Bath White. One of these fortunately laid some eggs after it was captured; and from these Mr Le Plastrier reared the caterpillars, which he fed with the Wild Mignonette (Reseda lutea), and at the present time he has four of them in the chrysalis state". In May 1843 of the same Journal Bree informed the readers that all the P. daplidice had successfully emerged in Le Plastrier breeding cages, three females and one male. Bree obtained a pair of P. daplidice from those bred by Leplastrier in 1843 and these are still in his collection, which is privately owned.
Queen of Spain Fritillary, Issoria lathonia.
In the Dale collection there is one specimen of Issoria lathonia, labelled "Dover 1826" and another " Dover Leplastrier" with no date.
Issoria lathonia. Leplastrier Dover. Dale coll, OUMNH.
The first British specimen of Oleander Hawk-moth, Daphnis nerii.
James John Walker, (1851- 1939) a marine engineer voyaged around most of the world with the Royal Navy, collecting insects when on land. He retired to Oxford, and became an editor of the Entomologist's Monthly Magazine. Walker was a Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society (President 1919-20) and a Fellow of the Linnean Society. He became a regular visitor to the Entomology Department at the Oxford Museum of Natural History, and while he worked at his desk in the old British room, arranging the Coleoptera collection or at some other task he used to hum and sing sea shanties and home made rhymes. The Dale Collection had been bequeathed to Oxford by Charles William Dale in 1904 and Walker was the first entomologist to examine the Lepidoptera in the collection in any detail and in the Entomologist's Monthly Magazine, 1907, 1909 & 1910, he published a series of articles on the many special and historic Lepidopotera specimens. Walker (1907) recorded the history of the first British specimen of Daphnis nerii captured at Dover that came into the possession of Leplastrier.
"The most interesting is a male, a little faded in colour but otherwise in good condition with the exception of a small piece out of the apex of each forewing, and the top of its head rubbed bare. It is labelled taken at Dover by Mr Le Plastrier (CWD) with a printed label at its side, Dover Mr Le Plaistrier Sept 1828. The latter date is almost certainly erroneous as regards the year, as the first record of the capture of the imago of C. nerii in our islands appears in the Entomological Magazine for 1834 Vol 1, page 525 as follows, Discovery of Sphinx Nerii in England "Sir, another addition has been made to our visiting Sphingidae by the capture of the splendid Deilephila (may I call it) nerii at Dover about ten days since. From the state of the specimen, which I have examined, it must have been very recently disclosed the tips of its wings and the top of its head alone being slightly injured by its captor, a lady residing in the above town. (J.F. Stevens Sept 16th 1833). The specimen now under consideration is slightly damaged as precisely the same manner as above described. It seems reasonable to suppose that it was from this example that the beautiful figure in Curtis British Entomology plate 626 was drawn. Curtis at the time this plate was published (January 1837) apparently knew of only two British taken C. Nerii, one of which was in the cabinet of his fellow worker J.C. Dale and was presumably lent to him for the purpose of being figured. The figure although more fully and richly coloured than the moth is now after a lapse of nearly three quarters of a century, agrees with it in a remarkable and convincing manner in all the minute details of its markings and though Curtis states "The fine specimen of the moth which is a female Mr Le Plastrier informed me was taken by a poor man the latter end of September 1834 near the pier at Dover and was bought to him alive", the antennae in the figure which are faithfully represented are obviously a male. It therefore appears to me that these somewhat discrepant records refer to the capture at Dover of a single specimen of C. nerii which came into the hands of the well known collector Mr Le Plaistrier and from him passed to J.C. Dale and that this, the first example of the beautiful moth known to have been taken in Britain, has thus been handed down to our time". Charles William Dale was not nowhere near as a meticulous worker as his father, and he often assigned a erroneous date to a specimen.
Daphnis nerii. Dover, Ex Le Plastrier coll, Dale coll, OUMNH.
Daphnis nerii. John Curtis (1823-1840) British Entomology, vol 56, plate 626, 1837.
* The specimen images were taken by me and remain the copyright of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History and the Bristol Museum.
References.
Bree W.T. (1832) List of Papilionidae occurring in the vicinity of Dover. Magazine of Natural History. V5, pp.330-336.
Bree W.T. (1843) Note on the occurrence of certain butterflies near Dover. Zoologist, vol 1, p.113.
Bree W.T. (1843) Note on Mancipium Daplidice. Zoologist, vol 1 p.201.
Brigg M. M. (2015) The Butterfly Collection of the Bree Family. *Available online here.
www.dispar.org/reference.php?id=103
Brown S.C.S. (1980) Dale Archives : Collections mentioned by Dale. Unpublished Manuscript.
Chalmers-Hunt, J. M. (1961). Butterflies and moths of Kent, vo1 1.
Curtis J. (1823-1840) British Entomology, vol 4 & 5.
Engleheart. N.B. (1835) Mancipium Daplidice. Entomologist's Magazine, vol 3, p. 409.
Surtees R.S. (1838) Jorrocks' Jaunts and Jollities.
Walker. J.J. (1907) Some notes on the Lepidoptera of the Dale collection. The Entomologist's Monthly Magazine, vol 43, p.96. 101. 156-157.
Westwood J.O. Humphreys H.N. (1841). British Butterflies and their Transformations
